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" Japanese electronic giant Sony has reported another massive quarterly loss after sales were hit by a slump in global demand and supply chain problems following the flooding in Thailand.  The maker of Bravia TVs and PlayStation consoles today announced a net loss of 159bn yen (\u00A31.3bn) for the final three months of 2011, compared with a profit of 72bn yen a year earlier. Sales slumped 17% to 1.8tn yen, despite the three-month period containing the typically busy Christmas shopping season.  The company blamed the loss on weak global demand for its products and the strong yen. The floods in Thailand also cost Sony \u00A374m in the quarter, after it was forced to halt production at various factories and postpone the launch of several products. Sony has forecast an overall loss of 220bn yen in its full fiscal year, the firm&amp;#039;s fourth consecutive annual loss.  The corporate giant has been troubled for several years, particularly in its television division, which was hit by a fault last year that resulted in thousands of Bravia TVs overheating. The firm&amp;#039;s TV business has also been hit by massive price falls and intense competition from rival firms such as Samsung and LG.  Yesterday, Sony announced that its chief executive Sir Howard Stringer will step down from the job on April 1 and be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, its executive deputy president and the man who is credited with reviving the PlayStation gaming business.  Sir Howard, who will remain at the firm as chairman, said that Hirai had &amp;quot;distinguished himself&amp;quot; though his work on PlayStation and the networked entertainment businesses.  &amp;quot;Kaz is a globally focused executive for whom technology and the cloud are familiar territory, content is highly valued, and digital transformation is second nature,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;I believe his tough-mindedness and leadership skills will be of great benefit to the company and its customers in the months and years ahead. I look forward to helping Kaz in every way I can so that succession leads inevitably to success.&amp;quot; Hirai added: &amp;quot;The path we must take is clear: to drive the growth of our core electronics businesses - primarily digital imaging, smart mobile and game; to turn around the television business; and to accelerate the innovation that enables us to create new business domains. &amp;quot;The foundations are now firmly in place for the new management team and me to fully leverage Sony&amp;#039;s diverse electronics product portfolio, in conjunction with our rich entertainment assets and growing array of networked services, to engage with our customers around the world in new and exciting ways.&amp;quot; Analysts have given a cautious welcome to the management changes, saying that it will take many years to fix the problems of a company that has lost ground to rivals such as Apple and Samsung. Kim-young Chan, at Shinhan Investment, told BBC News: &amp;quot;It won&amp;#039;t be easy for Sony to regain its lost ground under new leadership, as its overall competitiveness has sharply weakened. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s got structural problems that will take years to fix.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a363513/sony-reports-further-heavy-losses/>